Happy New Year to everyone on the site. My husband and I are fairly new sailors, needless to say we've run into all sorts of unexpected difficulties. But there's one question that seems to escape us. How do people sailing, for example to the Bahamas, manage to negotiate the darkness and weather with a limited crew of two? Does one person sleep while the other one sails the boat (acting as a lookout)? How can an autopilot factor into this equation? I'm sure I could find this information out in a book after some digging around, but since this site seems to be active on this early morning New Year Day 2003 (3:25 AM EST), I thought I'd pose the question for a practical response. Thank you, Happy sailing everyone this upcoming season & be safe. Darline Spring "Exquisite Delight"
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Jack Tyler
Many answers...
Happy New Year, Darline! Boats don't move in much of the Bahamas at night, except in the deep water passages and across the Banks. No nav aids, variable current, etc. But more broadly, what you imagine - two folks switching off - is the basic answer. How this is done, and how conscientiously, varies quite a bit from boat to boat. We recently returned from 2 years in the Caribbean, including a lot of multi-day passages. Like many before us, we used an egg timer in the cockpit to help us time our 720-degree visual sweeps, punch the radar button and scan it, post an hourly updated DR (actually, a fix given GPS these days) on the paper chart (just in case the laptop crashed...), check the batteries, check how things on deck look, etc. Inbetween egg timer Brrinnngs! we sometimes doze. What to set the timer for is determined in our case, as with many others I'm sure, by running a worst-case determination of a ship approaching us after our last sweep. Let's say a 25 kt. cruise ship or tanker is coming over the horizon off our bow and our combined closing speed is 32 kts - how long before it's at 2000 yards, allowing us time to maneuver away after spotting it on the next sweep. We usually sweep every 10 mins or less. (Illogical tho' it might sound, it's harder to do this conscientiously, relentlessly during a bright sunny day in good weather than at night when you're dead tired. Daydreaming, book reading, munching in the galley all make us forget to set the damn timer!) A radar with a 'guard zone' feature can be a big help to short-handed crews, and has been a huge help to singlehanders these days. Once offshore, you will quickly become aware of how much a priority it becomes to rest at every opportunity. Basically, we stand watch & navigate, occasionally eat (sometimes not much), cat nap, take an afternoon snooze, and sleep some of each night. This is almost mandated by circumstance if you're offshore many days; it's usually very tiring work. Jack
Happy New Year, Darline! Boats don't move in much of the Bahamas at night, except in the deep water passages and across the Banks. No nav aids, variable current, etc. But more broadly, what you imagine - two folks switching off - is the basic answer. How this is done, and how conscientiously, varies quite a bit from boat to boat. We recently returned from 2 years in the Caribbean, including a lot of multi-day passages. Like many before us, we used an egg timer in the cockpit to help us time our 720-degree visual sweeps, punch the radar button and scan it, post an hourly updated DR (actually, a fix given GPS these days) on the paper chart (just in case the laptop crashed...), check the batteries, check how things on deck look, etc. Inbetween egg timer Brrinnngs! we sometimes doze. What to set the timer for is determined in our case, as with many others I'm sure, by running a worst-case determination of a ship approaching us after our last sweep. Let's say a 25 kt. cruise ship or tanker is coming over the horizon off our bow and our combined closing speed is 32 kts - how long before it's at 2000 yards, allowing us time to maneuver away after spotting it on the next sweep. We usually sweep every 10 mins or less. (Illogical tho' it might sound, it's harder to do this conscientiously, relentlessly during a bright sunny day in good weather than at night when you're dead tired. Daydreaming, book reading, munching in the galley all make us forget to set the damn timer!) A radar with a 'guard zone' feature can be a big help to short-handed crews, and has been a huge help to singlehanders these days. Once offshore, you will quickly become aware of how much a priority it becomes to rest at every opportunity. Basically, we stand watch & navigate, occasionally eat (sometimes not much), cat nap, take an afternoon snooze, and sleep some of each night. This is almost mandated by circumstance if you're offshore many days; it's usually very tiring work. Jack
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Wayne Estabrooks
More Answers & Comments
Darline, I too am looking forward to the day when my wife and I will sail to the Bahamas. The way we plan to sail to the Bahamas is to go down the ICW to Florida and then wait for a weather window to make the approximately 90 mile crossing to the Bahamas. The trip down the ICW will be only in daylight hours and we would anchor out or get a marina each night. For the crossing to the Bahamas we might leave in darkness at 2:00 AM or so as to make landfall with plenty of daylight in the Bahamas. In your question, I don't know if you are talking about a direct ocean passage from the Chesapeake area to the Bahamas or if you plan to do the ICW south then hop across to the Bahamas from Florida. Your question leads me to think that you are considering a direct offshore passage. With my and your limited experience, a crew of two is probably not sufficient for an offshore passage of this length although there have been many that circumnavigate with only a crew of two. I have heard of horror stories of vessels with limited crew that tried to make an ocean passage and got exhausted to the point of having impaired judgement and you don't want to be in that situation trying to make landfall. You need to make it easy on yourself. Some additional experienced crew is an option to consider. This past August I helped some friends bring their newly acquired and well equipped 1990 Island Packet 35 up to North Carolina from Florida. We made a 500 mile offshore passage from Florida to North Carolina. It was a very enjoyable trip and it took 3 nights / 4days. The owners of the boat (husband & wife) and myself made up the crew of 3. We alternated 3-hour watches during the overnight hours starting at 9 PM and I was fortunate to have 2 of the 3AM to 6AM shifts and enjoyed the peacefulness and thrill of night sailing and watching the sunrise. After the first 24 hours at sea, we were 105 miles off St. Augustine, FL. And were on the other side of the Gulf Stream. We altered course generally toward Savannah / Charleston until we got back in the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream pushed us along and greatly improved our speed over ground and shortened the trip length. We were often doing 9 or 10 knots speed over ground when the boat speed was only about 6.5 knots. As it worked out, we made landfall at Beaufort, NC at about 2 PM on Thursday. I didn't sleep real well on the voyage but I was just getting used to it when we made landfall. This enjoyable and memorable offshore passage added to my sailing experience. The boat was equipped with 48 mile radar, SSB and weatherfax, wind generator, full instruments, solar panels, 406 EPIRB and numerous GPS units. There is lots of information out there on making ocean passages and it is good to read the experience of others. Many web sites are full of valuable information and ocassionally there is some poor advice. Please tell us more about your boat and your plans. Anyway, welcome to the sport of cruising under sail and Happy New Year ! See the related link for some photos and the GPS track of the passage I described. (Click on "Start Slide Show" once you have accessed the site).
Darline, I too am looking forward to the day when my wife and I will sail to the Bahamas. The way we plan to sail to the Bahamas is to go down the ICW to Florida and then wait for a weather window to make the approximately 90 mile crossing to the Bahamas. The trip down the ICW will be only in daylight hours and we would anchor out or get a marina each night. For the crossing to the Bahamas we might leave in darkness at 2:00 AM or so as to make landfall with plenty of daylight in the Bahamas. In your question, I don't know if you are talking about a direct ocean passage from the Chesapeake area to the Bahamas or if you plan to do the ICW south then hop across to the Bahamas from Florida. Your question leads me to think that you are considering a direct offshore passage. With my and your limited experience, a crew of two is probably not sufficient for an offshore passage of this length although there have been many that circumnavigate with only a crew of two. I have heard of horror stories of vessels with limited crew that tried to make an ocean passage and got exhausted to the point of having impaired judgement and you don't want to be in that situation trying to make landfall. You need to make it easy on yourself. Some additional experienced crew is an option to consider. This past August I helped some friends bring their newly acquired and well equipped 1990 Island Packet 35 up to North Carolina from Florida. We made a 500 mile offshore passage from Florida to North Carolina. It was a very enjoyable trip and it took 3 nights / 4days. The owners of the boat (husband & wife) and myself made up the crew of 3. We alternated 3-hour watches during the overnight hours starting at 9 PM and I was fortunate to have 2 of the 3AM to 6AM shifts and enjoyed the peacefulness and thrill of night sailing and watching the sunrise. After the first 24 hours at sea, we were 105 miles off St. Augustine, FL. And were on the other side of the Gulf Stream. We altered course generally toward Savannah / Charleston until we got back in the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream pushed us along and greatly improved our speed over ground and shortened the trip length. We were often doing 9 or 10 knots speed over ground when the boat speed was only about 6.5 knots. As it worked out, we made landfall at Beaufort, NC at about 2 PM on Thursday. I didn't sleep real well on the voyage but I was just getting used to it when we made landfall. This enjoyable and memorable offshore passage added to my sailing experience. The boat was equipped with 48 mile radar, SSB and weatherfax, wind generator, full instruments, solar panels, 406 EPIRB and numerous GPS units. There is lots of information out there on making ocean passages and it is good to read the experience of others. Many web sites are full of valuable information and ocassionally there is some poor advice. Please tell us more about your boat and your plans. Anyway, welcome to the sport of cruising under sail and Happy New Year ! See the related link for some photos and the GPS track of the passage I described. (Click on "Start Slide Show" once you have accessed the site).
F
Frank Hand
Night Crossing
Darlene my wife and I have made the crossing from Miami to West End and returning from West End to Fort Pierce twice in the last 3 years. The distance from Miami is about 80m while if you leave from Lake Worth its about 45m. The key considerations is to leave when there is no Northen wind component in the forcast for the next 24hr and to leave early enough from your port of departure to arrive in daylight at West End. We used 3hr shifts with the person on watch ALWAYS wearing a safty harness attached in the cockpit or to jack lines when up on deck. The crossing can have lots of traffic at night and a constant watch visual/radar/radio is a must. The Auto-helm does the steering work assuming you have adequate battery capacity when under sail only. Lots of cruisers link up with others to make the crossing at the same time. Good luck, its lots of fun!
Darlene my wife and I have made the crossing from Miami to West End and returning from West End to Fort Pierce twice in the last 3 years. The distance from Miami is about 80m while if you leave from Lake Worth its about 45m. The key considerations is to leave when there is no Northen wind component in the forcast for the next 24hr and to leave early enough from your port of departure to arrive in daylight at West End. We used 3hr shifts with the person on watch ALWAYS wearing a safty harness attached in the cockpit or to jack lines when up on deck. The crossing can have lots of traffic at night and a constant watch visual/radar/radio is a must. The Auto-helm does the steering work assuming you have adequate battery capacity when under sail only. Lots of cruisers link up with others to make the crossing at the same time. Good luck, its lots of fun!
H
Herbert Gibson
Northern Bahamas trip
I singlehanded my M432 from Abacos to SC last spring. Would have been easy trip but for mis judgement of Gulfstream weather window. Normally 10 to 12 hours to cross from West End to West Palm Beach or other way. No watches needed, just coffee. On the Bahamas bank headed east, no night travel. Plenty of anchoring places.But deep draft boat(over 6 feet) requires care and accurate position control. Depends on season of year. Wind can cause rough water on bank and reduce water clarity. Buy Steve Dodge's Abaco guide book. Just do it!
I singlehanded my M432 from Abacos to SC last spring. Would have been easy trip but for mis judgement of Gulfstream weather window. Normally 10 to 12 hours to cross from West End to West Palm Beach or other way. No watches needed, just coffee. On the Bahamas bank headed east, no night travel. Plenty of anchoring places.But deep draft boat(over 6 feet) requires care and accurate position control. Depends on season of year. Wind can cause rough water on bank and reduce water clarity. Buy Steve Dodge's Abaco guide book. Just do it!
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Chip Giles
Not too difficult
Darline, My wife & I have done it twice in the last two years. It was a little over 12 hours from Key Largo to Bimini. We are going with a flotilla this year. You are welcome to come. The link to our website is included. Good luck, Chip
Darline, My wife & I have done it twice in the last two years. It was a little over 12 hours from Key Largo to Bimini. We are going with a flotilla this year. You are welcome to come. The link to our website is included. Good luck, Chip
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